Feeding and stacking method and machine



Jul 14, 1925. 1,545,910

C. B. MAXSON FEEDING AND STACKING METHOD AND MACHINE Filed March 1,1922

In e/L Z07 N (ha/:[EJZZ/YM? 071/ WWW 7 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

"HABLES B. MAISON, O1 WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

FEEDING- STACKING METHOD AND MACHINE.

Application filed March 1, 1922. Serial 1110. 540,085.

Be it known that 1, CHARLES BENJAMIN MAXSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Westerly, in the count of Washington and State of Rhode Is and, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Feeding and Stacking Methods and Machines, of which the following is a speci fication.

This invention relates to feeding and stackin methods and machines, and more particu arly to methods of and machines for feeding and stacking sheet material, like pa er.

ccording to present practice, a large number of thicknesses or sheets of aper are simultaneously severed into bund es of sheets, the bundles then beingfed forward as units into a magazine or lay-boy, where they become stacked. For some purposes and for some kinds of paper, it is desirable to feed and stack the sheets singly. This result can, of course, be attained with resent-day machines,-a single sheet, an not a bundle of sheets, constituting the unit. To operate the machines at the low speed for which they are adapted, however, is very time consuming, and when it is attempted to increase the s eed, the sheets commence to buckle up and y about as they are delivered to the lay-boy, interfering with. proper stacking. The consequence is that it is impracticable to stack sheets singly or in small bundles with present-day methods.

The chief object of this invention, accordingly, is to provide an improved method and machine, whereby sheets of material may be fed and stacked sin 1y or in bundles with equal facility and at high speed.

To the attainment of this end, a feature of the invention resides in feeding the sheets singly or in small unit bundles successively past a predetermined point at a speed so high that, if the-y were fed at said s eed into the'lay-boy, they would buckle and 1 about therein, and feeding them successive y past a second predetermined'point at relatively low speed, whereby the single sheets or the bundles become overlapped and are fed at said low speed, in overlapped relation, into the lay-boy, where they become easily stacked.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved method and machine of the above-described character, of simpler construction.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the improved method and machine hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.

The invention wi1l-be better understood when studied in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a referred machine embodying the present Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a part of the same, enlarged as compared to Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a similarly enlarged view of a portion of the machine, showing the sheets in the process of delivery into the magazine.

The invention is illustrated in its preferred form in Fig. 1. Any suitable feed mechanism (not shown) may be employed to advance a web 2 of material, like paper, to a rotatin cutter 4 which cooperates with a cutter b ock 6 to sever the paper into sheets 8 of predetermined length. A plurality of webs of material may be led to the feed mechanism in superposed relation from a plurality of rolls, or the roll or rolls and the cutter may be dispensed with and previously cut sheets operated upon directly, as described below. The forward ends or heads of the sheets are successively gripped by and fed bet-ween relatively high-speed tapes 10 on one s ide and 12 on the other.

It will be understood that the term tape is employed in the specification and the claims in a generic sense, and includes within its scope other feeding mechanisms, like belts, cyllnders, aprons and the like. The high-speed tapes are driven at a speed somewhat higher than that of the feed mechanism (not shown) and therefore at a speed higher than that at which the sheets are delivered to the tapes. The head of each sheet is consequently gripped by the tapes 10 and 12 and the sheet is pulled taut and away from the next succeeding sheet, leaving a gap (not shown) between each two successive sheets. In the interest of economy of time, the speed of the high-speed tapes is so high that if the sheets were permitted to enter a magazine or lay-boy 18 directly, they vwould buckle and fly about therein in a manner that would make stacking impossible. The tapes 10 on one side of the sheets and the tapes 12 on the other side restrain the. sheets from buckling while traveling at this high speed, but in the magazine, there is no such restraining influence.

To reducethe speed of the sheets before they are permitted to enter the magazine, thehigh-speed tapes "10 and 12 feed them successivel to intermediately positioned, relatively lbw-speed tapes16 which receive the sheets and feed them into the magazine at low speed. These tapes 16 are overlapped by the high-speed tapes 10, as shown, so that the sheets are received from the highspeed tapes at 52 between the higlrspeed tapes 10 and the low-speed tapes 16. The heads of the sheets are gripped or pressed at 52 between idler rolls 28 and 42, upon opposite sides of the tapes 16, and their speed of advance is thereafter slowed down. The roll 28 is frictionally driven by the low-speed ta es 16, and the rolls 42 are frictionally riven by contact with the roll 28. The heads of the sheets are thus effectively gripped at 52 between the tapes 16 and the rolls 42. As the tapes 10 and 16 are separated, as shown, the sheets are fed forward, unconfined by the tapes 10 on both sides of the point 52.

The head of the sheet, as it is delivered from between the high-speed tapes 10 and 12, hugs the tapes 10 for a short distance, usually five to eight inches. Were it not for this, the head of a sheet fed at high speed would be liable to engage the tail of the prior-fed sheet just after the latter had been slowed down by the action of the idler rolls 28 and 42, and, causing the sheets to crumple, clog the machine. Before the head of the sheet that is traveling at "high speed can reach the sheet that is traveling at low speed, however, the tail of the latter, owing.

to the above-described hugging effect on the head of the next following, high-speed sheet, has been afforded time to move downward transversely to the direction of feed, from the high-speed tapes 12 to and upon the low-speed tapes 16, as will be evident from an inspection of Fig. 1, and as is more fully explained in a copending application Serial No. 469,203, filed May 13, 1921. The head of the sheet that is traveling at high speed,

therefore, by the time that it emerges from between the high-speed tapes 10 and 12, will lap over the tail of the prior-fed sheet. As the former sheet continues to travel at higher speed than the latter, it will become superposed thereover, in overla ping relation thereto, .but at a distance behind the. value of which is dependent upon the relative speeds of the high-speed and the lowspeed tapes. In similar fashion, a third sheet will become superposed over the second sheet, a fourth over the third, and so on- While the high-speed tapes feed the sheets singly, therefore, the low-speed tapes feed a plurality of sheets in successively lapped relation, one behind the other, as shown more particularly in Fig. 3, in which fashion they arrive into the magazine or lay-boy 18.

belt (not shown).

There, a stop 20 acts successively upon the I forwardends or heads of the sheets to limit their further movement, so that the sheets become stacked or piled in the magazine evenly.

Iii this manner, the sheets may be advanced to, and stacked evenly in, the magazine, at low speed, without buckling or curling or 4 other defects incident to high speed, though at which the cutter 4 will operate sa ely.

The significance of this will become apparent when it is reflected that the avera e speed employed with present-day met ods,-which speed, of course, is uniform throughout,is in the neighborhood of only 150 feet per minute.

The high-speed tapes 12 are mounted over actuating rolls therefor 22 and 24 that are driven from any suitable source of power. The roll 22 may be driven by a chain gear and the roll 24 may be geared thereto. The low-speed tapes 16 are mounted over rolls 26 and 30 and also over the idler roll 28.- The roll 26 is driven from a The high-speed tapes 10. are mounted over rolls 33 and 35 and also over an idler roll 36. The rolls 24 are raised somewhat above the plane between the tapes 10 and 16, the raised position of the rolls 24 aiding the above-described transverse movement of the tails of the sheets. A very simple machine is therefore provided for feeding sheets of material successively past a predetermined point at a speed so high as to make it impracticable to feed them at said speed .directly into the magazine, and for successively feeding the sheets at a relatively low speed past a second predetermined point into the magazine. The firstnamed predetermined point may, for example, be the point 48 at which the highspeed tapes 10 and 12 commence to feed, or the point 50 at which the high-speed tapes separate, or any intermediate point. For convenience, this point may be referred to as a high-speed polnt. The second pre determined point, which may be designated a low-speed point, may, for example, be the point- 52'at which the rolls 28 and 42 grip the heads of the sheets as the latter are delivered from the highspeed tapes.

Short, low-speed tapes 14 press the overlapped sheets against-the ends of the tapes 16, near the point 54, prior to the entry of the sheets into the magazine. These lowspeed tapes 14 are mounted over rolls 40 and 44. The rolls 40 extend beyond the l I point 54, the better to guide the overlapped sheets into the magazine.

The tapes 16 slope upward from their receiving end, at the rolls 26, towards the plane of feed of the sheets as they are delivered from between the high-speed tapes, the rolls 30 being preferably at about the same level as the rolls 24. The head of the sheet, as it is delivered upon the low-speed tapes, is thus directed upward, away from the prior-fed sheet, and this, for the moment, tends to prevent the sheet sticking to the prior-fed sheet, even though the. head of the sheet strike the prior-fed sheet considerably to the left of the point 52, as viewed in Fig. 1. As the sheet slidin'gly advances over the prior-fed sheet, therefore, an air layer accumulates between them. By the time that the head of the sheet reaches the point 52, when it comes to rest upon the prior-fed sheet, therefore, and the tail of the sheet has become released at the point 50, the accumulated layer of air between the sheets I will prevent their sticking together too close- The generation of objectionable static electricity is thus reduced to a minimum' With the rolls in the position of Fig. 1, it is possible to operate upon many kinds of paper out into sheets of a length approximately equal to the distance between the points and 52, the tail of the sheet advancing beyond the point 50, and out of the influence of the high-speed tapes, just be- I fore the head becomes gripped at the point 52 between the rolls 28 and 42.

To feed sheets substantially longer than the distance between the points 50 and 52 would. obviously be impracticable because, as the tapes are continuously acting, they would introduce Substantial buckling effects caused by the rear ends of the sheets being fed at greater speed than the forward ends. The high-speed tapes must cease to act upon the sheet at substantially the moment when the low-speed tapes commence It would be undesirablealso to feed shorter sheets, because, after to act thereon.

leaving the point 50, they would lie between the points 50 and 52, in the space shown provided between the tapes 10 and 16, and could not be positively fed forward into the lay-boy unless and until they drifted to the point 52. According to the present invention, however, the same apparatus may be adapted to operate upon sheets of different or varying length.

In the specific embodiment of the invention that is illustrated in Fig. 1, this result is attained by mounting the rolls 28 and 42 upon a support 56 that is longitudinally movable to adjust the relative positions of the points 50 and 52. The adjustment may be effected through the medium of two gear wheels 58 meshing with two rack gears 60 upon opposite sides of the frame of the machine. The gear wheels are fixed to the opposite ends of a shaft 57 that is journaled upon the support 56. But one of the gear wheels and its cooperating rack gear is visible in Fig. 1, the other being directly betapes 10 upon a shaft 63 that is carried upon a freely pivoted arm 65. The rolls 42 thus rest upon the roll 28 by their own weight and the weight of the arm 65. It is not necessary that the rolls 42 be provided between every two tapes 10. The positions of the rolls with respect tothe various tapes, may be adjusted by means of set screws 67.

The lay-boy 18 is automatically successively lowered by degrees to maintain the top of the stack of sheets at substantially constant height, thereby permitting the overlapped sheets to enter the lay-boy without hindrance from sheets already there. The lowering mechanism is not illustrated or described herein because forming no part of the present invention. The same difficulties that are met with in present-day methods and machines when it is attempted to feed and stack single sheets at high speed are encountered when it is attempted to operate upon small bundles of sheets, particularly if the sheets be constituted 0 very light or thin paper, or paper that is not stifi from other causes. The present invention, obviously, is as applicable to the feeding and stacking of bundles of sheets as to single sheets. Although, for concreteness, therefore, the term sheet is employed in the claims, it is to be understoodthat. the term is intended to embrace within its scope not only a single sheet, but a unit which may be constituted of a single sheet or of a bundle of sheets.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A machine for feeding sheets of material into a lay-boy and stacking them therein having, in combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets at relatively low speed past a low-speed point into the layboy, and means for feeding the sheets to the low-speed feeding means successively past a high-speed point that is separated from the low-speed point by'a distance substantially equal to the length of a sheet at a speed so high that, if they were fed singly at the said speed into the lay-boy, they would buckle and fly about therein, and for preventing the sheets from buckling and flying about after they have left the high-speed lit point by directing ,them towards the lows eed feedin means, whereby the sheets are ed past the w-speed point in lapped relation and become easily stacked inthe lay- A method of feeding sheet material that comprises positively feedin a plurality of sheets at relatively high spee successively past a high-speed point until they reach a low-speed point, directing the head of each sheet towards the prior-fed sheet at a graduall decreasing small angle towards a point and feeding the sheets in contacting, lapped.

relation at relatively low speed past the lowspeed point.

3. A sheet-feeding machine ih'aving, in combination, means for positively feedin a plurality of sheets at relatively high spee successively past a high-speed point until they reach a low-speed point and for direct the head of each sheet towards the priorsheet at a gradually decreasin small angle towards a point to the rear of t e lowspeed point after the said head has passed the high-speed point, means for pressing against the head of each sheet upon its arrival at the low-speed point to slow down its speed of travel and to permit the sheet to come into face-to-face contact with the rior-fed sheet, whereby the sheets become apped, and means for feeding the sheets in contacting,'lapped relation at relatively low speed past the low-speed point, the construction and arrangement being such that each sheet is maintained out of contact with the prior-fed sheet until its head reaches substantially the low-speed point.

4. A sheet-feeding machlne having, in combination, a relatively high-speed tape for feeding a sheet of material, a relatively low-speed tape separated from and lapped by the hi h-s eed tape to which the sheet is adapte to e fed by the high-speed ta e, and a roll between the lapped tapes and etween which and the low-speed tape the head of the sheet is adapted to be ressed as the sheet is received from the hig -speed ta e.

5 A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, a relatively high-speed tape for feeding a sheet of material, a relatively low-speed tape separated from and lapped by the high-speed tape to which the sheet. is ada ted to be fed by the high-speed tape, a roll etween the lapped tapes and between between the -1s' received from the high-speed tape, and

means for ad'ustin the position of the roll 7 app taples to accommodate sheets of different lengt 6; A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, a relatively high-speed tape for feeding afsheet of material, a relatively low-speed tapese aratedfrom and lapped by the hi h-s ee tape to which the sheet is adapte to e fed by the high-speed tape, and two rolls acting upon op osite sides of the sheet and between which t e head of the sheet is adaptedto be pressed as the sheet is received from the high-speed tape, one of the said rolls being driven by the low-speed ta e.

A sheet feeding-machine having, in combination, two relatively high-s eed tapes between which a sheet of materia is adapted to be fed, a relativel low-speed tape lapped by one of the hig -speed tapes between which and the said high-speed ta e the sheet is adapted to be fed by the highspeed tapes, two rolls acting at a predetermined point between the lapped tapes and between which and the low-speed tape the head of the sheet is adapted to be ressed as the sheet is received from the hig -speed tapes, and means for adjusting the point of action of the rolls.

8. A sheet-feeding machine havin in combination, a plurality of relatively highspeed ta 8 for feeding a sheet of material, a plura it of low-speed tapes separated from and apped by t e high-speed tapes to which the sheet is ada ted to be fed by the high-speed tapes, a rol on the sideof the low-speed ta s op osite to the high-speed tapes, and riven y the low-speed tapes, and a plurality of rolls between a plura ity of the high-speed tapes-acting against and driven by the first-named roll. 9. A machine for feeding sheets of material into a lay-boy and stacking them therein having, in combination, two relatively high-speed tapes between which the sheets are'adapted to be fed, a relatively lowspeed tape separated from and lapped by one of the high-speed tapes between which and the said'high-speed tape the sheets are adapted to be fed by the high-speed tapes, two rolls actin respectively, upon opposite sides of the ow-speed tape, whereby the heads of the sheets are pressed between the rolls and fed by the low-speed tape at reduced speed in lapped'relation, a lay-boy into which the lapped sheets arejed, and means for pressing the lapped sheets against the low-speed tape prior to their entry into the lay-boy.

10. A machine for feeding sheets of ma terial into a lay-boy and stacking them therein having, in combination, two relatively high-speed tapes between which the sheets are adapted to be fed at a speed so high that, if they were fed singly at the. said speed into the lay-boy, they would buckle and fly about therein, a relatively low-speed tape separated from and lapped by one of the high-speed tapes between which and the said high-speed tape the sheets are adapted to be fed by the highspeed tapes, and means acting upon opposite sides of the low-,speed tape to press the heads of the sheets as they are fed from the highspeed tapes, the low-speed tape acting to feed the sheets into the lay-boy in lapped relation at a speed low enough to permit their entering the lay-boy without buckling or flying about. V

11. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, a tape,.an idler roll in contact with the tape and by which the idler roll is frictionally driven, and a second idler roll in contact with the first-named idler roll at a point where the first-named idler 'roll is out of contact with the tape, theidler rolls being situated on'opposite sides of the tape.

12. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means comprising two tapes driven at the same speed for feeding a sheet of material, means comprising a tape separated from and lapped by one of the firstnamed tapes to which the sheet is adapted to be fed by the feeding means, and means acting at a predetermined point between the lapped tapes adapted to press the head of the sheet as. the sheet is received from the feeding means.

13. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means comprising a relatlvely high-speed tape for feeding a sheet of material, means comprising a relatively lowspeed tape separated from and lapped b the high-speed tape to which the sheet is a apted to be fed by the high-speed tape, and means acting at a predetermined point between the lapped tapes adapted to press the head of the sheet as the sheetis received from the high-speed tape.

14. A sheet-feeding machine having,-in combination, means comprising a tape for feeding sheets of material at relatively high speed successively past a high-speed point, means comprising a tape lapped by the firstnamed tape to which the sheets are adapted to be fed by the high-speed feeding means and by which the sheets are adapted to be fed at relatively low speed past a low-speed point, whereby'the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped relation, and two rolls adapted to act upon opposite sides of the sheets between which the heads of the sheets are adapted to be pressed as the sheets are received from the high-speed feeding means and through which the sheets are adapted to be feed by the low-speed feeding means.

15. A machine for feeding sheets of material into a lay-boy and stacking them therein having, in combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets at relatively low speed into the lay-boy, means for feeding ,the sheets to the low-speed feeding means successively past a high-speed point at a speed so high that,-if the were fed singly at the said speed into tie lay-boy, they would buckle and fly about therein, and for preventingthe sheets from buckhig -speed point by directing them towards the'low-speed feeding means, and means acting at a low-speed point that is separated from the high-speed oint by a distance substantially equal to t e length of a sheet to press the heads of the sheets and to slow down the speed of travel of thc sheets as they are successively delivered to the lowspeed feedin means, whereby the sheets become lappe and are fed by the low-speed feeding means in lapped relation into the lay-boy at a speed low enough to permit their entering the lay-boy without buckling or flying about.

16. A method of feeding sheets of material into a lay-boy and stacking them therein that comprises feeding a plurality of sheets successively past a high-speed point at a speed'so hlgh that, if they were fed singly at the said speed into the layboy, they would buckle and fly about therelingland flying about after they have left the in, feeding the sheets past a low-speed point that is separated from the high-speed point by a distance substantially equal to the length of a sheet into the lay-boy at a speed low enou h to permit their entering the lay-boy without buckling or flying about, and directing each sheet towards the prior-fed sheet after its head has left the igh-speed point to prevent the sheets from 17. The method of feeding sheets of material and stacking them in a lay-b0 that comprises successively feeding a plurality of sheets past a high-speed point at a speed sohigh that they would have a tendency to buckle and fly about, restraining the sheets against said tendency while they are so fed, successively feeding the sheets past a low speed point,'whereby the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped relation, and feeding the sheets in lapped relation at the said low speed into the lay-boy.

18. A machine for feeding sheets of material into a lay-boy and stacking them therein having, 1n combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets at relatively low speed past a ow-speed point into the lay-boy, means for feeding the sheets to the low-speed feeding means successively sing y past a high-speed point thatiis separated from the low-s eed oint by a distance substantially equa to t e len h of a sheet at a s eed so high that, i they were fed at the said speed into the lay-boy,

the would buckle and fly about therein,

an for preventing the sheets from buckling and flyin about after they have left the high-spee point b directing them towards 10 the low-speed fee ing means, whereby the sheets are fed by the low-speed feedin means past the low-speed point in lapp relation and become easily "stacked in the lay-boy, and means for adjusting the machine to accommodate sheets of different lengths.

In testimony whereof, "I have hereunto subscribed my name this sixteenth day of February, 1922. 1

\ CHARLES B. MAXSON. 

